Apple TV+ has given a series order for Now and Then, a drama created by the Spanish television writer and producer, one the country’s busiest and most important television producer, Teresa Fernández-Valdés and Gema R. Neira.
The series, from Bambú Producciones, will be shot in Spanish and English.
Set in Miami with an all-Hispanic cast, Now and Then explores the differences between youthful aspirations and the reality of adulthood, when the lives of a group of college best friends are forever changed after a celebratory weekend ends up with one of them dead. Now, 20 years later, the remaining five are reluctantly reunited by a threat that puts their seemingly perfect worlds at risk.
Gideon Raff will executive produce and direct the first two episodes.
The series will be written by Neira and Campos with their team. Campos and Fernández-Valdés will serve as showrunners. Bambú Producciones will produce for Apple TV+.
Campos and Neira created Spanish series Gran Hotel, which was adapted by ABC as Grand Hotel;Cable Girls, which is distributed by Netflix; and Velvet.
Fernández-Valdés worked with the duo on all three series, produced by Bambú. Campos and Fernández-Valdés executive produced the three Spanish shows, as well as ABC’s Grand Hotel.
This is the second bilingual English/English series Apple TV+ has ordered, joining Acapulco,a half-hour comedy series starring Eugenio Derbez inspired by the film How To Be a Latin Lover. The streamer also has upcoming English-language action-thriller series Echo 3, which is set in South America, and projects under an overall TV deal with Alfonso Cuarón.
Marina de Tavira is heading to the scene of the crime…
The 46-year-old Mexican actress, who earned an Academy Award nomination for her work in Alfonso Cuaron’s Netflix Spanish-language film Roma, will star in the Spanish-language crime drama series Kolonie.
The project is in development between Narcosproducer Gaumont and Redrum, which has worked on series including Narcos: Mexicoand Amazon’s international drug thriller Zerozerozero.
Written by Carlos Rincones, who wrote on Netflix’s Mexican drama Tijuana, the series centers around an emotionally complex seasoned special agent, Adriana, played by de Tavira, who is tasked with investigating the brutal murder of a Mennonite boy in rural Chihuaua, Mexico. Once there, she partners with a rookie local policeman who recently abandoned the Mennonite community to join the police force. As they inch closer to solving the crime, they slowly uncover the justice they pursue is mired in a dark web of corruption and mysticism that extends beyond anything they could have ever imagined.
The series will be shot in Mexico with Redrum’s Stacy Perskie executive producing and Christian Gabela serving as head creative executive.
“Led by Gaumont’s Christian Gabela and his team, we are proud to develop Kolonie with our valued partner, Redrum, and are honored to have Marina de Tavira, one of the most talented actresses of today, star in the series,” said Nicolas Atlan, President, Gaumont U.S. “At Gaumont we take pride in producing important, local stories that resonate on a global scale, and we can’t wait to bring this riveting story to life.”
Perskie added, “We feel the Mennonite communities in Northern Mexico are a fascinating and unexplored part of our culture and telling a great story with a powerful female lead in that world is something that we are very excited about. We feel very lucky about having Marina de Tavira, one of the most emblematic Mexican actresses of our time, play that role and spearhead this project, which will shed light upon one of Mexico’s hidden corners.”
de Tavira earned a Best Supporting ActressOscar nod for playing Sofia in Roma and is also set to star in Lisa Joy’s Reminiscence alongside Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson and Thandie Newton.
The Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences has chosen the Mexican filmmaker’s I’m No Longer Hereas Mexico’s official entry for the International Feature FilmOscar race.
The film centers on the young leader (Juan Daniel Garcia Trevino) of a small Monterrey street gang from the Cholombiano subculture who longs for home after being forced to move to Jackson Heights, Queens, after an altercation with a local cartel. It premiered at the 2019 Morelia Film Festival, where it won Best Feature and was a selection of this year’s truncated Tribeca Film Festival.
The film received 10 Ariel Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and is Mexico’s official submission for Spain’s Goya Awards.
Netflix acquired worldwide rights back in 2018, and it bowed on the streamer on May 27.
“The news took me by surprise, and I am overwhelmed with happiness and excitement,” said Frias. “I am enormously grateful to the Academy and its members and the entire industry that has supported us, such as Netflix and IMCINE, but also to the people. The public has shown us that they are ready to connect with our stories here in Mexico. That fills me with pride.”
Mexico has seen nine film nominated for the Academy Awards’ International Feature race (it was formerly known as Outstanding Foreign-Language Feature) with films from the likes of Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro. It’s only one the top prize once, however, for Alfonso Cuarón’sRoma, also from Netflix, in 2018.
The 58-year-old Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker has signed on as an executive producer on Chaitanya Tamhane’s The Disciple, which became the first Indian movie to land a Venice Film Festival competition slot since 2001’s Golden Lion winner Monsoon Wedding.
The plot of The Disciple centers on Sharad Nerulkar, who has devoted his life to becoming an Indian classical music vocalist, diligently following the traditions and discipline of old masters, his guru, and his father. But as years go by, he starts to wonder whether it’s really possible to achieve the excellence he’s striving for.
Tamhane’s debut film Court won Best Film in the Orizzonti section at the 2014 Venice Film Festival, where he was also awarded the Lion of Future.
He and Cuarón met in a mentorship program.
“He was part of most of Roma’s process and I jumped to the opportunity to be part of the process of his second film The Disciple,” Cuarón said. “I believe Chaitanya is one of the most important new voices of contemporary cinema.”
The Venice Film Festival will run from September 2-12 and will be the first major international film event to take place physically since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Cate Blanchett is the president of the main competition jury this year.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has released its annual list of invitations to join the organization, with the 26-year-old Mexican actress and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Indigenous Peoples among the 819 extended an invite.
Aparicio, one of Timemagazine’s100 most influential people in the world in 2019,earned an Oscar nod in the Best Actress category for her performance in Alfonso Cuarón‘s 2018 Spanish-language drama Roma. With the nomination for her actig debut, she became the first Indigenous American woman and the second Mexican woman to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
But Aparcio isn’t the only Latino/a to make the list…
Other invitees in the Actors branch include Bobby Cannavale, who appeared in The Irishman, Overboard’s Eva Longoria, Knives Out star Ana de Armas and Gringo actor Yul Vazquez.
Invitees in the Music branch include Andrea Guerra (Hotel Rwanda) and Cuban-American jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who worked on the music for Clint Eastwood’s films Richard Jewell and The Mule.
The Directors branch sent out invitations to Latino filmmakers Icíar Bolláin (Spanish), Felipe Cazals (Mexican), Sebastián Cordero (Ecuadorian), Luis Estrada (Mexican), Alejandro Landes (Colombian-Ecuadorian),Jorge Alí Triana (Colombian) and Andrés Wood (Chilean).
This year’s new class demonstrates The Academy’s commitment to erasing the stigma of not being inclusive, particularly in terms of women, international members and underrepresented ethnic/racial communities.
The organization reports this year’s class breakdown is 49% international, 45% women, and 36% underrepresented ethnic/racial.
The overwhelming number of those invited to join the Academy end up accepting.
The total active membership in 2019 was 8,946, with 8,733 eligible to vote. Total membership including active, voting and retired was 9,794. Today’s additions will take the membership count past the 10,000 mark.
AMPAS says members can voluntarily disclose their race/ethnicity, sex or can choose “prefer not to.” So, demo stats may not be 100% accurate. AMPAS also “recognizes and respects” the personal choice in identification, but doesn’t track LGBTQ+ or differently abled, although a source says, while protecting privacy and not forcing answers, they are “working towards it.” In other words this is no longer your father’s Academy.
“We take great pride in the strides we have made in exceeding our initial inclusion goals set back in 2016, but acknowledge the road ahead is a long one,” said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. “We are committed to staying the course.”
“The Academy is delighted to welcome these distinguished fellow travelers in the motion picture arts and sciences. We have always embraced extraordinary talent that reflects the rich variety of our global film community, and never more so than now,” said Academy President David Rubin.
Here’s a look at some of this year’s Latino invitees:
Actors Yalitza Aparicio – “Roma” Bobby Cannavale – “The Irishman,” “The Station Agent” Ana de Armas – “Knives Out,” “Blade Runner 2049” Eva Longoria – “Overboard,” “Harsh Times” Yul Vazquez – “Gringo,” “Last Flag Flying”
Casting Directors Libia Batista – “Eres Tú Papá?,” “Viva” Javier Braier – “The Two Popes,” “Wild Tales” Eva Leira – “Pain and Glory,” “Biutiful” Yesi Ramirez – “The Hate U Give,” “Moonlight” Yolanda Serrano – “Pain and Glory,” “Biutiful”
Directors Icíar Bolláin – “Even the Rain,” “Take My Eyes” Felipe Cazals – “El Año de la Peste,” “Canoa: A Shameful Memory” Sebastián Cordero – “Europa Report,” “Crónicas” Luis Estrada – “The Perfect Dictatorship,” “Herod’s Law” Alejandro Landes – “Monos,” “Porfirio” Jorge Alí Triana – “Bolívar Soy Yo,” “A Time to Die” Andrés Wood – “Araña,” “Violeta Went to Heaven”
Documentary Cristina Amaral – “Um Filme de Verão (A Summer Film),” “Person” Violeta Ayala – “Cocaine Prison,” “The Bolivian Case” Julia Bacha – “Naila and the Uprising,” “Budrus” Almudena Carracedo – “The Silence of Others,” “Made in L.A.” Paola Castillo – “Beyond My Grandfather Allende,” “Genoveva” Paz Encina – “Memory Exercises,” “Paraguayan Hammock” Mariana Oliva – “The Edge of Democracy,” “Piripkura” Iván Osnovikoff – “Los Reyes,” “La Muerte de Pinochet (The Death of Pinochet)” Tiago Pavan – “The Edge of Democracy,” “Olmo and the Seagull” Bettina Perut – “Los Reyes,” “La Muerte de Pinochet (The Death of Pinochet)” Marta Rodriguez – “Our Voice of Earth, Memory and Future,” “Campesinos (Peasants)”
Executives Ozzie Areu Barbara Peiro Frank Rodriguez Mimi Valdes
Film Editors Alejandro Carrillo Penovi – “Heroic Losers,” “The Clan” Alex Marquez – “Snowden,” “Savages”
Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Mari Paz Robles – “I Dream in Another Language,” “Cantinflas” David Ruiz Gameros – “Tear This Heart Out,” “Amores Perros” Susana Sánchez – “The Liberator,” “Goya’s Ghosts”
Marketing and Public Relations Inma Carbajal-Fogel Emmanuelle Castro Fernando Garcia Dustin M. Sandoval
Music Andrea Guerra – “The Pursuit of Happyness,” “Hotel Rwanda” Arturo Sandoval – “Richard Jewell,” “The Mule”
Producers Edher Campos – “Sonora, the Devil’s Highway,” “The Golden Dream” Nicolas Celis – “Roma,” “Tempestad” Alex Garcia – “Kong: Skull Island,” “Desierto” Enrique López Lavigne – “The Impossible,” “Sex and Lucia” Álvaro Longoria – “Everybody Knows,” “Finding Altamira” Mónica Lozano – “I Dream in Another Language,” “Instructions Not Included” Gabriela Maire – “Las Niñas Bien (The Good Girls),” “La Caridad (Charity)” Luis Manso – “Champions,” “Binta and the Great Gabriela Rodríguez – “Roma,” “Gravity” Mar Targarona – “Secuestro (Boy Missing),” “The Orphanage” Luis Urbano – “Letters from War,” “Tabu”
Production Design Sandra Cabriada – “Instructions Not Included,” “The Mexican” Estefanía Larraín – “A Fantastic Woman,” “Neruda”
Short Films and Feature Animation José David Figueroa García – “Perfidia,” “Ratitas” Oscar Grillo – “Monsters, Inc.,” “Monsieur Pett” Otto Guerra – “City of Pirates,” “Wood & Stock: Sexo, Orégano e Rock’n’Roll” Isabel Herguera – “Winter Love,” “Under the Pillow” Summer Joy Main-Muñoz – “Don’t Say No,” “La Cerca” Juan Pablo Zaramella – “Luminaris,” “The Glove”
Sound David Esparza – “The Magnificent Seven,” “The Equalizer”
Visual Effects Leandro Estebecorena – “The Irishman,” “Kong: Skull Island”
Members-at-Large Daniel Molina Carlos Morales Jesse Torres
Nicolás Pereda is bringing the faunato this year’s reimagined Toronto Film Festival.
The 38-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s latest film Fauna will be among the film’s screened at the festival, which is North America’s largest festival.
The film is an exploration of the impact of “narco” culture on Mexican society.
It’ll be Fauna’s official global premiere. An excerpt from the film was screened as part of the “Works in Progress” section of the Los Cabos International Film Festival in 2019,and won the Cinecolor Mexico Award.
This year’s edition will run from September 10–19. As expected, the festival will look different due to the coronavirus.
Organizers say the 45th TIFF will be “tailored to fit the moment,” with a combination of physical screenings and drive-ins, digital screenings, virtual red carpets, press conferences and industry talks.
There’ll be considerably fewer movies — a selection comprising 50 new features — and the festival isn’t expecting large numbers of international press or industry to attend in person.
In addition to Pereda’s Fauna, this year’s strong crop of early movies confirmed to screen at the festival are the Kate Winslet-starrer Ammonite, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, Concrete Cowboy with Idris Elba, Good Joe Bell starring Mark Wahlberg, Suzanne Lindon’s Spring Blossom, True Mothers by Naomi Kawase and Halle Berry’s directorial debut Bruised. More titles will be announced over the summer.
The movies will play over the event’s first five days as physical, socially distanced screenings. There will also be five programs of short films, interactive talks, film cast reunions, and Q&As with cast and filmmakers.
However, the festival has acknowledged that its plans for an in-person festival will be contingent on the local government’s “reopening framework to ensure that festival venues and workplaces practice, meet and exceed public health guidelines.” Large gatherings still aren’t permitted in Toronto.
TIFF temporarily closed its year-round offices and cinemas at TIFF Bell Lightbox in March due to the pandemic. The organization is now taking steps to prepare for reopening and working with medical advisors and public health officials to ensure safe conditions.
Meanwhile, TIFF is launching a bespoke digital platform for the festival. The organization has partnered with Shift72 on the platform, which will host digital screenings, talks and special events.
The Industry Conference will be online-only this year, with screenings for press and industry taking place on the digital platform only. The fest says there will be “advanced security and anti-piracy measures, access to buyers, and opportunities for networking.”
For 2020, TIFF says it will welcome 50 filmmakers and actors as TIFF Ambassadors to help the festival deliver its program. They will include Ava DuVernay, Taika Waititi, Anurag Kashyap, Nicole Kidman, Martin Scorsese, Nadine Labaki, Alfonso Cuarón, Tantoo Cardinal, Riz Ahmed, Isabelle Huppert, Claire Denis, Atom Egoyan, Priyanka Chopra, Viggo Mortensen, Zhang Ziyi, David Oyelowo, Lulu Wang, Rosamund Pike, Sarah Gadon and Denis Villeneuve.
TIFF will also present its annual TIFF Tribute Awards, acknowledging and celebrating outstanding contributors to the film industry.
Now in its third year, TIFF’s Media Inclusion Initiative will continue to accredit eligible black, indigenous, people of color, LGBTQ+ and female emerging film critics. New this year, TIFF is also offering companies and individuals the opportunity to gift industry access to 250 underrepresented emerging filmmakers from around the world.
Alejandro Gonzalez-Inarritu is helping raise money for members of the Mexican film community affected by the COVID-19 lockdown…
The 56-year-old Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker has joined forces with fellow leading Mexican producers to raise financial and medical support for “the most vulnerable” members of the nation’s film and television industry.
During a remotely staged audiovisual presentation featuring all participants chiming in from separate locations, the six prominent figures — Gonzalez-Inarritu, Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toroand Salma Hayekamong them — announced the creation of a relief fund created by the film community that will be managed by the Mexican Film and Arts Academy.
Like the rest of the world, production in Mexico has been at a standstill since mid-March, which has directly affected roughly 30,000 families whose livelihoods depend on industry production. Macquiladoras Mexico are foreign-owned manufacturing facilities that are used by companies in order to export high quality goods from Mexico at a lower cost than they might be obtained elsewhere.
The initiative has been backed by many top producers and other professionals.
Inarritu spoke extensively during the video announcement gathering. Stressing that anyone can donate to the cause, Gonzalez Inarritu believes that, due to the current crisis, “The industry is more united than ever before,” with the relief initiative unified under the banner of Sifonoforo, Fondo de Emergencia Audiovisual.
So far, $450,000 has been raised, but much more will be needed.
“Our mission is to confront the pandemic as a united community,” the director said, “because that where our strength lies. Those who make cinema are a tribe, all with different specialties. It can take years to prepare a film—five years, or 20 years—and they are as fragile as dreams. You always fear that your little tribe could be lost.”
Also participating in the discussion were producers/industry professionals Eamon O’Farrill, Monica Lozano, Leonardo Zimbron, Inna Payan and Julio Chavezmontes.
Contacts can be made through sifonoforomexico9@gmail.com or comunicacion@amacc.org.mx.
Alfonso Cuaron’s last project is headed beyond the stream…
The 57-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s Oscar-winning film Roma will be the first Netflix film to get a Blu-Ray and DVD release, due to the Criterion Collection launching a special edition in February.
The release will include five separate documentaries about the creation of the film, and will feature the same 4K master and Dolby Atmos sound that were part of the theatrical release.
Roma won Academy Awards for Cuaron’s directing and cinematography, as well as the foreign-language film Oscar.
Roma follows the Oscar-nominee Yalitza Aparicio, who plays a live-in housekeeper in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City. It became Mexico’s first winner of the Oscar for foreign-language feature. The film, produced by Esperanto Filmoj and Participant Media, joined previous foreign-language film nominees Life Is Beautiful, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Letters From Iwo Jima, Babel, and Amour as a nominee in the best picture category.
Roma is also the first Netflix film to be added to the Criterion Collection. The documentaries include “Road to Roma,” about the making of the film, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with Cuarón; “Snapshots from the Set”; documentaries about the sound, post-production processes, the theatrical campaign and social impact in Mexico.
Due to continuing ticket demands, the legendary Mexican rock band has added a seventh show at The Forum in Los Angeles as part of its Rayando El Sol Tour, which kicks of at the end of August.
The seventh date at the venue, which will take place on December 7, makes Maná the only act in any language or genre to ever play seven dates at the venue as part of a single tour.
“Mana makes history today by becoming the first artist that will perform seven shows in one year at the ‘Fabulous’ Forum since our reopening in 2014,” said a spokesperson for The Forum. “Mana also holds our record for most shows since the reopening at 11. The Forum is proud and honored to be the home to Mana’s historic run of shows.”
Maná, Latin music’s most successful rock band and one of the most prolific and highest-grossing Latin acts in the market, announced dates forRayando el Sol, their first tour in three years, this past February.
Tickets sales were so strong, that additional dates were added almost immediately, and the tour, originally set to kick off September 4 from Corpus Christi, is now starting August 31 in Laredo.
New dates were also added for Chicago, Oakland, San Jose, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
Originally, Maná was slated to play four dates at The Forum, which grew to six, and now, seven.
The group performed on Good Morning America this Wednesday, the same day they streamed an intimate performance for fans on their YouTubechannel in anticipation of their tour.
“Maná is a touring powerhouse,” Bob Roux, president of U.S. concerts for Live Nation, said in a statement back in March, talking about the sellout speed of Maná’s shows. “I’ve never seen an onsale like this in the Latin Market. This puts Maná in the rarefied realm of the biggest bands in the U.S., regardless of language.”
The Rayando el Sol tour will now play 35 stops. The tour takes its name from Maná’s 1989 breakout hit song of the same name.
“It was the song that kicked off our career when we were ready to walk away from it all,” Fher Olvera, Maná’s lead singer, told Billboardearlier this year. “We spent many years with very little money. One time, [drummer] Alex [Gonzalez] spent the night at an apartment in Colonia Roma [the Mexico City neighborhood depicted in Alfonso Cuarón’s film Roma] that didn’t even have furniture. And there, between beers, we wrote the song. At that point, I was ready to work in what I’d studied in college: communications. And Alex was going to return to Miami. But that song allowed us to breath, so we have a real appreciation. It’s a very emblematic song. It’s played everywhere.”
Maná: Rayando El Sol 2019 tour dates:
Aug. 31, 2019 — Laredo. TX Sames Auto Arena Sept. 4, 2019 — Corpus Christi, TX American Bank Center Sept. 6, 2019 — Houston, TX Toyota Center Sept. 7, 2019 — Dallas, TX American Airlines Center Sept. 11, 2019 — El Paso, TX UTEP Don Haskins Center Sept. 13, 2019 — Phoenix, AZ Talking Stick Resort Arena Sept. 14, 2019 — Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena Sept. 20, 2019 — Los Angeles, CA The Forum Sept. 21, 2019 — Los Angeles, CA The Forum Sept. 22, 2019 — Los Angeles, CA The Forum Sept. 27, 2019 — San Jose, CA SAP Center at San Jose Sept. 28, 2019 — San Jose, CA SAP Center at San Jose Sept. 29, 2019 — San Diego, CA North Island Credit Union Amphitheater Oct. 9, 2019 — Denver, CO Pepsi Center Oct. 11, 2019 — Chicago, IL Allstate Arena Oct. 12, 2019 — Chicago, IL Allstate Arena Oct. 17, 2019 — Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena Oct. 19, 2019 — Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center Oct. 20, 2019 — Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum Oct. 22, 2019 — Fairfax, VA EagleBank Arena Oct. 25, 2019 — Miami, FL American Airlines Arena Oct. 27, 2019 — Atlanta, GA Infinite Energy Arena Nov. 6, 2019 — El Paso, TX UTEP Don Haskins Center Nov. 8, 2019 — Houston, TX Toyota Center Nov. 9, 2019 — Dallas, TX American Airlines Center Nov. 14, 2019 — Edinburg, TX Bert Ogden Arena Nov. 15, 2019 — San Antonio, TX AT&T Center Nov. 17, 2019 — Phoenix, AZ Talking Stick Resort Arena Nov. 22, 2019 — Los Angeles, CA The Forum Nov. 23, 2019 — Los Angeles, CA The Forum Nov. 24, 2019 — Los Angeles, CA The Forum Nov. 27, 2019 — Sacramento, CA Golden 1 Center Nov. 30, 2019 — Oakland, CA Oracle Arena Dec. 5, 2019 — Fresno, CA Save Mart Center Dec. 7, 2019 — Los Angeles, CA The Forum
Alfonso Cuaron’s masterpiece is heading to the Middle Kingdom…
The 57-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s Oscar-winning Roma has been confirmed for a May 10 release in Chinavia Estars.
The film is going out on the Nationwide Alliance of Arthouse Cinemas network, which includes approximately 3,897 screens.
It’s not yet clear how many screens Romawill access, but the Middle Kingdom release could effectively be the widest play the film will have had theatrically.
Romahits Chinese cinemas the same day as Warner Bros.’ Detective Pikachuand amid the ongoing run of Avengers: Endgame.
Cuaron’s highly personal black-and-white love letter to the women who raised him currently has an 8.1 on Chinese reviews aggregator Douban.
Cuaron has history with wide audiences in the market where Gravitygrossed $71M back in 2013.
Produced by Esperanto Fillmoj and Participant Media, Romawon Oscars for Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film. It was released in the rest of the world by Netflix, becoming available on the platform on December 14 after a theatrical release that began on November 21 in the U.S and Mexico, as well as expanding to other cinemas in over 40 countries.
It is still playing theatrically in nine countries including Japan and Italy.
